Fantastic Four Vol 3 4
** ** ** ** Supporting Characters: * * * * Villains: * * Other Characters: * * * * * * Races and Species: * * * Moloids * Locations: * ** *** *** ** ** * ** *** Items: * Daily Bugle newspaper Vehicles: * * Boeing 314 China Clipper * Fantasti-Jet * | Notes = Continuity Notes * The Yancy Street Gang's animosity toward the Thing is due to the fact that he used to be a member of the gang as a youth as seen in . When Ben left the gang to start a new life they saw it as a betrayal and have tormented him ever since he became the Thing. * The front page story on the Daily Bugle newspaper is asking if Spider-Man is a menace or not. Daily Bugle owner J. Jonah Jameson has been vocally against Spider-Man, and super-heroes in general, since . * This issue reveals that Billie Lumpkin is the niece of Willie Lumpkin. Willie was the Fantastic Four's was the Fantastic Four's mailman starting back in . At the time of this story Willie had retired after the events of . However he eventually returns to duty delivering mail to the Fantastic Four again as seen in . * Mention is made to how the Thunderbolts used to live in the Four Freedoms Plaza. Some facts about this: ** The Fantastic Four were presumed dead when they sacrificed their lives to stop Onslaught in . ** However they were actually shunted into the Counter-Earth dimension created by Franklin to live reborn lives as seen in - . ** While they were gone the Thunderbolts took over their old headquarters as seen in ** The Fantastic Four and their allies were eventually returned in - . ** Since then the Four Freedoms was decimated when the Thunderbolts were outed as former members of the Masters of Evil in . * Much of the focus of this story is on the relationship between the Thing, Alicia Masters, and the Silver Surfer. Alicia Masters was the Thing's longtime girlfriend after they met in . It has been a complicated relationship to say the least: ** After six years together Ben began to reconsider his relationship with her between - . Later, during the Secret Wars. In Ben decided to stay on Battleworld to sort out his feelings. He remained there from - . ** In the meantime, circa and as revealed in , Alicia was replaced by the Skrull spy named Lyja who then started pursuing a relationship with Johnny. Ben fell for this ruse when he returned to Earth in . This prompted him to leave the Fantastic Four in . ** He then began pursing Sharon Ventura in . Ben eventually returned to the FF in and Johnny married "Alicia" in . Ben eventually started dating Sharon from -- until Sharon was cured by Doctor Doom. Meanwhile the Fantastic Four discovered the truth about Lyja and rescued Alicia in . ** Ben and Sharon's relationship became estranged when it was revealed she was spying on the Fantastic Four in . Despite Alicia's efforts to rekindle their romance, they became estranged as of . At the time of this story, Alicia has been a constant companion of the Silver Surfer since . Ben discovers this in . * The appearance of the original Twin Towers of the World Trade Center seen here should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616. The Twin Towers were destroyed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. As of 2015 the Sliding Timescale has moved forward enough that the modern age does not start until after the year 2001. * The sheriff of Yorkton mentions Alpha Flight, Canada's premiere team of super-heroes. That group had recently reformed in . At the time of this story Alpha Flight were already preoccupied trying to contain their long time ally Wolverine, as seen in . * Ben mentions a number of past clashes with Terminus: ** He references the Fantastic Four's first encounter with him from - . ** He also mentions how Terminus apparently battled both the Avengers and the X-Men occurring in - and . These statements are not accurate at all: *** The Avengers did not fight the real Terminus, but a Deviant named Jorro, who was posing as Terminus. This fact was revealed in . Prior to his death while battling the Avengers he plunged the Savage Land into an iceage. *** The X-Men at this point had not battled Terminus or Jorro. The instance that Ben is referring to is when they the X-Men assisted the High Evolutionary undo the damage done by Jorro and restore the Savage Land. The X-Men eventually battle Terminus years after this story in . * The identity of the woman who saved Johnny's life in this story is never revealed. | Trivia = | Recommended = | Links = }}